Liverpool’s academy is in great shape at the moment. In the last few years, the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones have stepped into the limelight and become integral players under Jurgen Klopp.
But now there are even more coming through. This season, Jarell Quansah has been sensational when called upon. The likes of James McConnell and Bobby Clark have also made impressive cameos. Meanwhile, at the academy there are an entire group of young players taking this season by storm.
Undoubtedly, though one of the biggest players to have emerged on the radar is Conor Bradley. He only really came into the team during the start of last month in Alexander-Arnold’s absence but even in that short space of time he did more than enough to show Liverpool have a special talent on their hands.
Conor Bradley likened to Steven Gerrard
In his last four games for Liverpool Bradley has made six goal contributions. He absolutely ran riot against Chelsea in particular putting in a man of the match display by scoring and registering two assists.
Now the Daily Mail has ran a profile on him, where the man who brought him to his former club, Dungannon Swifts – Joe McAree was interviewed about Bradley. And the Northern Irishman had a few interesting suggestions, and a big prediction to make about the 20-year-old.
“The people at Liverpool know a lot more about football than me,” McAree said. “But I will say this: whenever someone decides to put him in the Steven Gerrard role, you’ll have an even better player… that’s all I’ll say!”
“He’s a talented boy, with a great attitude. From the first day I met him in the cafe, he looked me in the eye and smiled, it just felt different. For an 11-year-old boy it was just different, the focus he had. He knew what he wanted to be, he was a Liverpool supporter.
“This boy can get from box to box like a reindeer, tremendous stamina, he can thread passes into places where you wouldn’t know were there. It’s a fairytale. I’m waiting patiently for him to move to midfield and be the next Gerrard.”
Comparing anyone to Steven Gerrard is a huge claim. But it is interesting that like Alexander-Arnold, Bradley is also comfortable playing in midfield. For now though, we can’t quite see him shifting to that role in the near future. He’s been brilliant as a right-back, not just at Liverpool, but for many years including while on loan at Bolton last season.
At one point, though, either Alexander-Arnold or Bradley will have to switch. For us it seemed like the most probably situation was going to be Alexander-Arnold moving to midfield. However, after what McAree has said, we aren’t quite sure. It seems like Bradley may have what it takes to play in midfield as well. It explains why he was so good at inverting from the right-back role during pre-season last summer.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
